Obama: I’m Not Choosing Between U.K. and France

French President Francois Hollande, left, and U.S. President Barack Obama smile during a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House.

European Pressphoto Agency

President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollandehave talked up the friendship between the countries during Mr. Hollande’s visit to the U.S., which culminates in a state dinner Tuesday night. In a press conference earlier in the day, President Obama were asked to rank that friendship — in short, has France overtaken the U.K. as the U.S.’s best partner in Europe?

Here is the transcript of the exchange, provided by Federal News Service (www.fednews.com).

REPORTER: You have … praised France very warmly today and granted our president the first state visit of your second term. Does that mean that France has become the best European ally of the U.S. and has replaced Great Britain … in that role, and if so, why not extend to France the no- spying agreement that you have with England after the big scandal of the NSA surveillance program?…

PRESIDENT OBAMA: First of all, I have two daughters. (Laughter.) And they are both gorgeous and wonderful, and I would never choose between them.

And that’s how I feel about my outstanding European partners. All of them are wonderful in their own ways.

Now, to the — to the serious part of the question, what I do believe is, is that the U.S.-French alliance has never been stronger, and the levels of cooperation that we’re seeing across a whole range of issues is much deeper than it was, I think, five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago. And that’s good for France. It’s good for the United States. It’s good for the world because we share certain values and certain commitments and are willing to act on behalf of those commitments and values.

With respect to the NSA, obviously, I expressed my — my strong commitment to making sure that our rules in how we approach intelligence and surveillance, not just here in the — you know, not just with respect to any particular country, but worldwide, that we do it in a way that takes into account the incredible changes in technology and the new capacities that have evolved over the last several years. And the first place that we look to in terms of how do we make sure that our rules are compatible with our partnerships and our friendships and our alliances was — were countries like France that have been longtime allies of ours and some of our closest partners.

It’s not actually correct to say that we have a, quote-unquote, no-spy agreement with Great Britain.

That’s not actually what happens. Well, we don’t have — there’s no country where we have a no-spy agreement. You know, we have, like every other country, you know, an intelligence capability, and then we have a range of partnerships with all kinds of countries. And we’ve been in consultations with the French government to deepen those commitments.

At the same time, what I’ve also said, both publicly and privately — and I want to reiterate today to the French press — is that we are committed to making sure that we are protecting and concerned about the privacy rights not just of Americans, not just of our own citizens, but of people around the world, as well. That’s a commitment, by the way, that’s fairly unprecedented in terms of any country’s intelligence operations.

….

PRESIDENT HOLLANDE: (Through interpreter.) In response to your first question, well, I have four children, so that makes it even more difficult for me to make any choice at all. But we’re not trying to be anyone’s favorite. There are historic links. We share common values.

And I can see that our views converge on many issues. But it’s not about hierarchy; it’s just about being useful to the world.

Because the friendship between the United States and France is not just about strengthening our ties — economic ties, cultural or personal ties. That already would be a great deal. It’s not just about bringing our two societies closer to one another. It’s not just about sharing technology. No, what makes this friendship between the United States of America and France is the fact that we can hold values in a — at a specific point of time, with this American presidency and with this French presidency, if I may say so.

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